1830 – William Hackley recorded his in diary: Rose before the sun. Read the “Acts.” Marshal Lackland M. Stone arrived this morning. The court met at 10 A.M. pursuant to the law and the Judge not being present it was adjourned according to his instructions left with the clerk until the third Monday in this month which is the fifteenth. Filed the declaration in the case of F.A. Browne & Company vs. J.R. Western. Read Hammond. Took a bath found the water rather cool but still pleasant after the first shock was over. After dinner read Stewart and after tea Oliver O’Hara came in and we played a few games of whist. I went to bed before ten but could not get to sleep for some time for the noise made by some cats under my window. I got up and loaded one of my pistols to shoot it. Wind northeast, weather pleasant.
1899 – With today’s issue, the newspaper Key of the Gulf changed its name to the Key West Inter-Ocean.
1906 – The morning daily newspaper the Inter-Ocean and the Citizen, a weekly paper, combined to form the Citizen Publishing Company which began publishing a new afternoon daily: The Key West Citizen. Walter W. Thompson was president, Marcy H. Darnell business manager and T.T. Thompson treasurer.
1931 – Former Key West Mayor Lewis Ott died in St. Petersburg. He served as Mayor of Key West from 1923 to 1925. He also served as postmaster.
1939 – The Naval Station was formally reopened and Commander G.B. Hoey assumed temporary command.
1940 – The re-built Strand Theater on Duval Street opened. The building had been destroyed by a fire in 1934.
1955 – The only winner in the Key West city election was Commissioner Louis Carbonell. All others faced run-off opponents.
1960 – The Key West-Havana ferry arrived in the night on its final trip from Cuba. There were 287 passengers and 86 cars among which were an undisclosed number belonging to the American Embassy in Havana.
1968 – Monroe County Tax Collector Howard Wilson died.
1983 – Richard Heyman was elected Mayor of Key West, one of the first openly gay elected officials in the country.
Information compiled by Tom Hambright, Historian Emeritus, Florida Keys History Center, Monroe County Public Library
Image: Key West City Commissioner Virginia Panico, Mayor Richard Heyman and Commissioner Harry Powell take office Nov. 5, 1987. The Bill Westray Collection. Florida Keys History Center, Monroe County Public Library. https://www.flickr.com/photos/keyslibraries/7705723174